In a letter to parents, the school said although it believed the school was making good progress, it wanted to make sure it benefited from school improvement networks.

“We believe that being part of something bigger than our ‘standalone’ school will strengthen the school and the opportunities it creates for all of our students,” the letter said.

In a separate statement, headteacher Simon Duffy said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to grow as a school, to continue to appoint really strong staff and to embed very good school improvement strategies.

“The River Learning Trust share our values and ethos of education and have the same view of what makes schools successful.

“We are looking forward to cementing our relationship with the River Learning Trust and working to make our school even better.”

The change means Mr Duffy and the governors will be accountable to the trust board and executive headteacher for the overall quality of education but will have autonomy about how that could be achieved.

Paul James, chief executive of the River Learning Trust said: “This is a great chance for Chipping Norton School to play a role as a member of the River Learning Trust, to benefit from the high quality of collaboration and services we can provide and to grow and develop alongside our other successful and ambitious schools.”

The school will be holding meetings for parents on November 3 and 10, from 6pm to 7.30pm.